Nurse with Idaho ties sentenced for drugging woman for sex

Adam B. Archibald, of Yakima, Wash., and formerly from Boise, administered lorazepam — a prescription drug used to relieve anxiety — to the unsuspecting victim so he could have sex with her.

Archibald, 38, was sentenced Wednesday to a minimum of six years in prison on an assault charge. A state review board will determine whether he will be released after that. Archibald could remain in prison for up to life.

Yakima Superior Court Judge Ruth Reukauf placed Archibald on lifetime probation and required that he register for life as a sex offender.

Last month, Archibald pleaded guilty to second-degree assault with sexual motivation and other related charges.

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I recognize that what I did was not only wrong, it was deplorable, disgusting. I sincerely apologize.

Adam Archibald

Archibald said he hoped to be able to improve himself, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.

Reukauf said Archibald rationalized all his actions for his own purposes, including violating his Hippocratic oath to do no harm to others.

“You learned to comfortably blur all the lines,” she said, according to the Herald-Republic.

The victim told the judge she hoped Archibald would get the treatment he needed to address his problems.

The victim, who was given the drug over a four-year period ending in July 2014, a month before Archibald was arrested, believed she suffered from “sleep episodes” caused by an unknown medical disorder, according to online documents from the Washington Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission.

In one episode, the victim slept for about 36 hours, the commission said.

Archibald was licensed in Washington beginning in September 2010 as an advanced registered nurse practitioner, who are authorized to write prescriptions, and as a registered nurse anesthetist. His license was suspended in December 2014, after criminal charges were brought against him in Yakima County Superior Court.

17 Number of prescription drugs stolen by Adam Archibald

In suspending Archibald’s license, the commission found that he stole 17 different prescription drugs from his employer, Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital. Those included lorazepam, also known as Ativan. Archibald did not contest the suspension.

Archibald grew up in Boise and earned a nursing degree from the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls.

He was licensed in Idaho from 2003 to 2013 and in Tennessee, where he attended graduate school, from 2008 to 2011. He was also licensed in Georgia from 2008 to 2012.

No disciplinary action was taken against Archibald in those states, according to the licensing agencies.